Google to restrict advertiser access to user data over privacy concerns

The search giant has decided against including contextual content categories in the bid requests it sends to buyers

Google has announced a plan to limit advertisers' access to user data, in an attempt to better protect people's privacy.

Starting from February, the company will no longer provide information to ad buyers about the type of content on a website or page where an advertisement could be placed.

"Following our engagement with data protection authorities, we have decided that beginning in February 2020 we will no longer include contextual content categories in the bid requests we send to buyers participating in our auction," Chetna Bindra, Google's senior product manager, user trust and privacy, said in a blog post.

Google uses content categories to describe the type of content published on a particular website, page or app. These categories usually give an idea whether the content on a web page is about news, music, weather, etc., thus helping advertisers to avoid buying ads on a type of content that may not be appropriate for their business or products.

Google also said that it will continue to work with regulators investigating the company's practices in the context of the Authorised Buyers programme.

Authorised Buyers is a service for accessing multiple sources of online display advertising inventory. Buyers can use the Real-time Bidder (RTB) feature to 'receive impression calls in near real-time and provides a bid in response based on the Buyer's own data and information'.

In her post, Bindra explained that Google's RTB platform has enough measures to protect users' privacy, requiring publishers to get consent from users before showing personalised content to them. She also said that company is using data minimisation practices, such as removing device IP addresses and using resettable user IDs, to prevent user identification.

Google also plans to update its EU User Consent Policy audit programme for advertisers and publishers, according to Bindra.

In recent years, Google has faced intense criticism from privacy groups and regulators over how it processes user data for personalised advertising.

In May, Ireland's data protection regulator initiated a probe to determine whether Google's processing of personal data through its online Ad Exchange (DoubleClick/Authorised Buyers advertising programme) is in violation of EU privacy laws that cover the sharing of personal data of internet users.

Browser maker Brave said that Google's DoubleClick/Authorised Buyers advertising system is currently active on more than 8.4 million websites. The company, which was acquired by Google in 2007, is now playing a major role in helping the internet giant earn billions in revenue from ads served on publishers' websites.

Google also faced criticism in the UK in 2017 when its artificial intelligence project DeepMind used patients' data in a way that failed to comply with the country's data protection laws.